COUNCILS, schools and hospitals in Somerset will from next Friday have to prove they are doing all they can to stamp out sex discrimination at work and promote equal opportunities between men and women.

Police authorities, Government departments and other public bodies will have a responsibility to meet the terms of the new Gender Duty.

Paul Dunn, Chief Executive of Equality South West, said: "This subtle, but hugely important, change in the law will lead to a revolution of culture at work.

"Up until now, staff had to prove they had been discriminated against.

"Now the boot is on the other foot and employers have to prove they are doing all they can to stop discrimination and harassment and to promote equality.

"We want to act as a critical friend to public bodies and we'll be contacting them later in the year to see what progress they've made."

Jackie Longworth, chair of both Equality South West and the gender equality network Fair Play South West, said: "Equality legislation to date has gone some way to eliminate the more obvious forms of direct discrimination, but it has failed to get rid of the gender pay gap, with women on average still earning nearly 20% less than men.

"This new duty will force public authorities to take action to reduce this gap, for example by increasing the numbers of women with access to higher paid work."